Learning for Living

Friday, December 21, 2007

It’s the end of the year. And it’s unusually warm for this time of the year. Kind of similar to the year that’s drawing to a dull end. A year that started with lots of activity – hectic deadlines, weekly travel and the worst weather I have seen so far. With spring came the promise of a new start. The promise lived up to its billing for the first couple of months. But since then it has been all downhill. To be fair, I am not exactly in the dumps… but pretty close, by my standards. If I am not excited about going to work every morning, I might as well not go. And that’s the problem I am trying to put behind me right now. But outside of work, life’s been pretty good. I have enjoyed my time with my mates, traveled a bit – though, not as much as I would have liked to – and read a few good books. All in all a very relaxed year.

And that’s what irritates the hell out of me. I don’t need a friggin relaxed year at this time in my life. I need daily excitement. I need challenges that will make me reach out beyond myself. I need to feel the rush!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Honey, how do you visualize our first day together after almost a year of separation?Sweetie, what do you wanna do on your vacation?And there are many other innocent-sounding questions like that...Don't answer them. It's a goddamn trap.What I would like to say to the 2 sample questions above, respectively, is...- Mmmmm, order home delivery, light a fire, throw the rug down on the floor and fuck like minks!- Why do I need a plan? It's a vacation, innit???

Instead what I end up mumbling is something like...- Sweetheart I just wanna hold you close and whisper sweet nothings in your ears and make you laugh- I'd love to hire a boat and take you out on a ride to a secluded islandAnd she goes... that choooo chhhwwweeeeet. Tell me in more detail. How do you really see it happening?

Crash! Bang! Whump!!!

Visualizing a moment before it's time is a cardinal sin that one should always be wary of. I have ruined many beautiful moments because I saw them over and over in anticipation and then sulked in the actual moment coz it did not turn out to be what I had thought. So much for the power of visualization. It's a trap we all fall for invariably and often repeatedly. And although the examples above relate to relationships, the rule applies equally well to professional situations.

Live in the moment. It's the greatest because you are alive and ensures good memories even if the future is not so rosy. Good memories are good karma - you owe them to yourself.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

A good loud swear is like a roaring ringing sneeze - leaves a wake of distressed neighbours, but relieves you like nothing else can, at that precise moment. Everytime I let one out, I feel lighter. I feel happier for having dumped my load of unhappiness instead of lugging it around.

I see that my assertions are hardly convincing. So here are some situations for you. Tell me what words come to your mouth before anything else in response...

Your Wintel machine hangs on you just when you are wrapping up a long email. Of course MS didn't save the draft for you

Put on your best party dress, step out in the breezy, minty, fresh from rain night and SPLAT! A car just passed by and one of it's wheels happened to slice through the nearby puddle

You have sliced or hooked your last 5 shots at the driving range. A hottie in the shortest of shorts walks up 2 mats from you. You barely have the time to admire her legs and whack - she drives a perfect 160 yards

So next time you feel like it, just let it rip...

Must add a disclaimer here though - don't swear loudly in Hindi! Some languages lend themselves naturally to swearing - Hindi is NOT one of them. A crass word in Hindi is just that - crass. You won't get any emotional support or understanding if you let out a loud BC, MC or other such dignified phrases. Having said that, I must also add that I find it really funny to observe the hypocrisy that most modern Indian women seem to display these days - it's fine to say fuck, asshole, bitch, whatever in English, but don't you dare utter a gaali in Hindi. It's just not acceptable!

But then I have seen exceptions to this too. In b-school you will see gals swearing in Hindi with as much venom or emotion as a guy can muster in the same situation. Rumour has it that girls outdo the guys by a fair margin and flair in this dept at the annual competition between XLRI and IIM-C. Now there's a reason to clear CAT or XAT!

And if you thought swearing is just about hate or anger, listen to this anthem...

And how can one forget Osho's take on the versatility of the word "FUCK"

Thursday, August 30, 2007

When was the last time you saw a bowling attack so fuckin incapable of bowling wicket-taking deliveries? And this is supposed to be the pride and joy of more than a billion people - the Indian Cricket Team, HA!!! They almost did the unthinkable today when RP and Dhoni ran out Collingwood! And I thought this one's in the bag... well, so much for confidence and faith.

Friday, August 24, 2007

There's one school of golf which swears by the art and technique of a swing. And the swing is the end-all be-all of the sport for them. Everything else falls in right if you master the swing! But of course no one has the ideal swing. Would it be Tiger's? Or would it be Nickalus'?Or would it be mine?

Then there's the other school of thought which says there is a ball, there is a club and there's instinct. Everything else happens if you just hit the ball with the club. The club is angled to provide the trajectory to the shot. The ball is stationary, so just aim for the right spot on the ball. And let your instinct take over, just like a child would hit a ball with a stick!

I started off getting indoctrinated into the first school because I took golf lessons last year at ISB. And of course all instructors only talk about the swing! But over the last couple of months, I have just been swinging alone at the range near my office. And I am beginning to let instinct take over. I see the ball, I hit the ball. But there's still technique to it. It's not all wild heaving. I still have to work on the angle at which my arm comes down. And I certainly have to work on keeping my wrists steady. The easiest thing to do by instinct is to let the wrists control the shot at the time of impact. DON'T DO THAT! It can only lead to sore wrists within a couple of days. And then instincts, or no instincts, you don't wanna hit the driving range when it hurts with every swing.

So just like with most other sports, a good blend of technique and instinct will probably serve me better than either one alone. I guess somewhere along the way I had simply forgotten that Golf is also a sport!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

On top of the peak, after an arduous 6-hr climb, I lay exhausted... soaking up the sun. And I thought...

Why did I want to climb this peak? Was it prove my fitness to myself? I could have done that in the gym or in the pool... didn't need to take a 3-day trip to Yosemite for that! Maybe I did it just to break the monotony of an urban existence... maybe. The simple answer is that I did it- because the peak was there to be taken

Why do we want to surf gigantic 100 foot waves in the pacific?- because the waves are there to be conquered

Why do we want to explore space?- because it's all around us challenging us constantly

Why does one need to sail across the world?- because the winds and the seas are there to be explored

Why do I want to trek the Himalayas one day?- because it's there

The key to most adventurous undertakings in our lives is pretty simple.We do it... because it's there!!!